The New Paradigm
vol. I, Number 10

Dear Friends,

Back on Tuesday, 09 December, 1997, if you recall, when I posted the second installment of The New Paradigm, I made the following apology:

"I find I made one promise in my initial offering which I don't seem to be able to make good on at present. I said, 'Needless to say, the New Paradigm List will not be made available to anybody for any reason, and will only be used for distribution of The New Paradigm newsletter.' Well, as I compose the newsletter, I have 'New Paradigm List' displayed in the 'To:' field at the top of the page, which is the name of the list in my Address Book of you who have requested inclusion in the List. However, when I send the newsletter out, and have a copy posted back to me, I find the names of the members of the List in the 'To:' field, instead of the anonymous 'New Paradigm List;' and there does not seem to be a way in MS Outlook Express, my e-mail program, to suppress the identities of the members of the List. Some e-mail programs may have that capability, but evidently not Outlook Express."

Well, now I find I owe my apologies to Microsoft, for the above statement is a slander. As you may have noticed in the last installment, tnp #9, there is a very simple way in MS Outlook Express to suppress the identities of the recipient list; I just didn't know what it was, but have blundered into it in the meantime. In case you're interested, it is the "Bcc:" field in the Address Block at the top of a new message, or message in composition; which stands for "blind carbon copy" and means the intended recipient(s) who are not to be identified.

And sure enough, last installment I inserted the "New Paradigm List" into the "Bcc:" field, instead of the "To:" field; and lo and behold! Nobody on the List was identified, either at the top of the message, or in the Message Header you get when you click on File, Properties in the Menu Bar. Therefore the distribution list for tnp is at last genuinely anonymous, as I originally intended it to be; and so it shall remain from here on out. So I can once more make the statement I made originally: "Needless to say, the New Paradigm List will not be made available to anybody for any reason, and will only be used for distribution of The New Paradigm newsletter."

Therefore, if any of you have been, or know anybody who has been, reluctant to subscribe to, contribute to or forward tnp because the subscriber list was not anonymous: now it is and shall so remain. [H.]

New Topic:

This edition I am going to take the liberty of resurrecting an earlier post some or many of you may have seen before; but as I've noted in the past, these "new paradigm" issues bear repeating, and this one I feel should be included within the growing corpus of accumulating "new paradigm" materials, because it, and the responses it generated from some readers, may be largely responsible for the subsequent launch of this "sometimes newsletter" shortly thereafter.

The occasion for the post which follows was the following disclosure on the Fortuna Alliance® II List Server: "FTC SEEKS CONTEMPT ORDER - On October 30, 1997 the FTC filed a motion with the U.S. Federal Court pursuant to the settlement agreement of February 1997;" followed by a lengthy discussion of the FTC Contempt Order and its more obvious flaws. On Wednesday, November 26, 1997 when this message appeared on the Server, it was news to me, although evidently not to everybody else, and it prompted the response reproduced below.

As a footnote, the Server message also mentioned that "at the recent Launch a task force of members was formed to consider further legal action against the FTC and Randall Brook [an FTC official]. Some suggestions were a class action suit for $500 million against them." As of current date, my understanding is that the FTC Contempt Order was denied. [H.]

Dear Fortunate Brothers and Sisters,

I hardly know what to say about all this [the FTC Contempt Order and following discussion], but I'll begin by saying it to you. This is just one man's opinion, of course; I'm entitled to my own opinion, and I guess you're entitled to it too.

The FTC action, in my opinion is not and never has been about protecting the unwary public from a so-called "pyramid scheme." What it is about is protecting the interests of a powerfully entrenched aristocracy of global bankers and financiers who have virtually absolute control of all the world's bogus currencies; which they use as a tool to fleece the human population of the world's real wealth, in much the same way as a sheep farmer regularly sheers his sheep. To these predatory bankers the people of the world are nothing more than an economic resource whose sole purpose and value is to provide labor and wealth to the de facto "owners" of the world. Fortuna Alliance® II is in the process of setting up a private market for buyers and sellers which is isolated from the octopus-like grasp of the global banking cartel; and in doing so is about to demonstrate to all the world the stupendous economic power of such a system, in grotesque contrast to the prevailing one in which all profits are systematically siphoned off by means of bogus "inflationary currencies" which have been deliberately and long since cut loose from connection to any real value, such as gold.

For example, in the United States we have the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks, which are no more "Federal" than Federal Express; i.e. they are not part of the federal government: they own the federal government; and are owned in turn by a cartel of private, mostly European, banks. Look in virtually any nation on Earth, and you will find the same thing: the national currency is controlled by a Central Bank, which is in turn owned and controlled by the same international cartel. The reason poverty is so widespread in the world is simply because the astounding productivity of the human race is systematically siphoned off through "inflation" and "taxes" into the pockets of these global tycoons. Fortuna Alliance® II represents a real threat to these pirates, because it will work; and working, demonstrate such a stark contrast in productivity and wealth generation as to awaken the entire human race, who have been lulled by complacency and misdirected attention to grumblingly accept the status of economic slaves.

All this may sound far-fetched, and I'll admit it must be difficult to accept or assimilate without deliberate delving and digging into "off the grid" information resources. You won't find anything about this in any kindergarten or university, or mainstream newspaper, or on television, or in books or periodicals published by the Mainstream Press. These information sources are all "owned" by the "right people" and may be relied upon to say whatever they're paid to say. That is why we got such an unfair shake from the Press: the purpose of the Press is not to inform, but to indoctrinate the public. That's what they're paid to do, and that's what they do. But once you catch hold of the thread, and start tugging on it, my God, what a mess of corruption and duplicity you'll discover beneath the tidy venire that masks the goings-on in the forums most people have entrusted to "govern" them.

Well, you delve into this in any depth, and it gets very inflammatory and depressing. You begin to see the extent to which your trust in so-called "leaders" - Presidents, Prime Ministers, MPs, Congress Persons, Secretaries of State, etc. and on and on - has been cynically betrayed, not once, but again, and again, and again, over the course of decades, and even centuries....

But it doesn't do any good to get inflamed or depressed about it, in my opinion. The knee-jerk reaction to these disclosures - once one has mounted the formidable obstacle of even accepting the plausibility of such a picture - is to get all riled up and say something like, "Let's throw the $#@%&! out!" But - again in my opinion - the fundamental issue is not one of "Us" vs. "Them" at all. That's "old paradigm" thinking, which embraces the notion that the world is composed of a collection of inherently antagonistic entities and forces pitted in mortal competition with one another. If that were true, the world could not even exist for a moment. It would have torn itself to pieces in the moment of Creation - if ever there was such a "moment." So long as that cataclysmic paradigm persists the endless succession of tyrannies and wars will continue to be the prevailing human condition; at least until we tear ourselves and our world apart and render life unsustainable at all.

No, the answer must lie in a different direction than taking on the "villains" in a frontal confrontation. Which is not to advocate a formula of staunch and unbending pacifism: the bee has her sting; the porcupine, shim's* quills; the skunk, shim's perfume; yet all these display an inherently peaceful and harmonious relationship with their surroundings that is altogether admirable. They are "new paradigm" creatures (the "new paradigm" isn't new; only new to the human race) and demonstrate a way of life quite foreign to that evolved by our species over the course at least of recorded human history. The answer must lie, it seems to me, in the direction of imbibing the ancient "new paradigm" ourselves, and recognizing and learning to apply the infinite Light and Power inherent to the Realization of the Oneness and Interconnectedness of All Things. Such Realization discloses that "They" are "Us" too, and are not implacable foes, but only deceived, as "We" have been, by the prevailing "old paradigm" that is destroying the human race because it prompts us to consume ourselves and devour our young.

The crucial issue is much larger than the circumstances of that entity known as Fortuna Alliance® II Ltd. The crucial issue is the rapid and spontaneous blooming of conscious awareness, voluntary solidarity with, and willful practice of the "new paradigm" within the minds and hearts of each Fortuna member, and of the human race at large. I think it is important to unmask the deceptions, destruction and destitution wrought by the "old paradigm owners" of the Earth; but these matters are highly emotionally charged, and many of the purveyors of information about them seem to be crusaders whose rhetoric is directed, intentionally or not, toward fomenting rebellion, insurrection and direct confrontation. It seems to me that working oneself or one's fellows into a high dudgeon against "the villains," while understandable, is generally counterproductive; for it follows unerringly the "old paradigm" script of "win / lose," "Us / Them," "Good Guys / Bad Guys" which has animated all warfare and human self-destruction down the ages.

Unfortunately, I do not have the last piece of the puzzle. I do not know where to take this from here. Perhaps a multi-million-dollar counter suit would be a good thing, like the sting of a bee, or perfume of a skunk. But in my heart I feel that if we fasten upon the FTC as our "enemy" and the root of our troubles, we shall fall back into the endless confusion of self-deception from which we are all struggling to rise. The "enemy" is not an agency or a person or a cartel of institutions, but a way of thinking and an approach to life that is inherently and insanely out of synch with Nature, God and All Things. It is the "old paradigm" which we have all imbibed from infancy and from all our cultural heritages around the world, for as far back as our historical memory is able to penetrate.

As I write this, I reach out with my Mind, to the Minds of all People everywhere, to AWAKE! ARISE! UNDERSTAND! The ugly world in which we have lived for so long it seems almost natural is nothing more than the product of our own thoughts, expectations and intentions. It will never change in any fundamental way unless and until We change Our mode of thought: the paradigm through which We evaluate and navigate "reality." This means Me; this means You; this means, ultimately, Everybody; and I can testify wholeheartedly, "It ain't easy!" Myself, I am only just beginning to grasp the enormity of the change required, and actually undertaking to execute it within My own Mind - as opposed to merely thinking about it, talking about it and writing about it.

One thing for sure: if we "Fortunates" allow ourselves to be consumed by internecine strife and endless grumbling and bickering about the warts and moles we find on emerging Fortuna Alliance® II, we are contributing to nothing but the destruction of our cherished dreams. We may not be able to see around the next bend in the road, but we can be sure that, as an American Patriot remarked more than two centuries ago, "If we don't hang together, we will surely hang separately."

Well, maybe that's enough for now.

Love & Light,

-- Harmon
J. Harmon Grahn

___________________________

* [Editorial footnote:] In the above reproduction I have substituted the possessive gender-neutral personal pronoun, shim's for his which appeared in the original. Otherwise the above edition is essentially unchanged. If you are unfamiliar with the pronoun shim see "A note on gender and its representation in the English language" in tnp #6. [H.]

By way of editorial comment, I would like to point out - again - that The New Paradigm is not a forum for the dissemination of information, but rather for the stimulation of thought. The opinions expressed in this forum are just that: opinions, and as such are subject to minor or major error, factual or otherwise. Their value, if any, resides not in their content, but in their capacity to prompt You to undertake Your own investigations; to critically examine the world in which You find Yourself, and the validity of the paradigm under which You have lived at least until very recently. This is (in my opinion) yet another essential aspect of the "new paradigm:" that You, and You, and You, and You, each One individually, take responsibility to dig and delve for Yourself, to determine to Your Own satisfaction whether what You have been told - by anyone, about anything - is actually true. There is no aspect of Life, either within Yourself or without, that should be exempt from Your critical review.

My investigations have led Me to the belief - the opinion - that the world in which I was born and have lived My (most recent) "life" so far this time round, is grotesquely different than it has been represented to be by the readily available sources of information today; that the conventional assumptions upon which most human decisions in "daily life" are based are false and catastrophically misleading; that the "old paradigm" that has governed human action for as far into the past as historical record and anthropological speculation are able to penetrate, by creating an endless succession of futile and self-destructive standoffs between "us" and "them," or between "me" and "you," has brought the entire Human Race, and perhaps all Life on Planet Earth, to a mortal crisis, and a confrontation with catastrophe; and that the time has urgently arrived to shift paradigms.

Well, that is My opinion. Has it any merit? I urge You, not to accept My, or Anybody Else's opinion, but to undertake Your Own investigations and arrive at Your Own Opinion. Right now, "For a Limited Time Only" You have at Your disposal the most miraculous means of investigation ever put into the hands of "the common man:" the Internet, and the capacity for globe-girdling networking and communication with people and sources of Your choice. I urge You, do not fritter away this unique opportunity in idle chatter, games and "edutainment." Use the powerful tools at Your disposal now to probe and dig. Leave no stone unturned in any sphere of interest; but pursuant to the discussion in the preceding article, here are some topics of investigation that might lead You to some provocative discoveries:

• The Constitution for the United States of America, Article I, Section 8, Clause 5 (1:8:5) states that "The Congress shall have the Power...To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of all foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures." How is it, then, that the Federal Reserve Board (the so-called Fed) controls these functions today? What exactly is the Fed? Who or what is the Fed responsible for, answerable to, and governed by? Where did the Fed come from?

• Who exactly are this alleged "powerfully entrenched aristocracy of global bankers and financiers who have virtually absolute control of all the world's bogus currencies" mentioned in the preceding article? If they exist, they must have names, identities; they must be associated with wealthy and powerful institutions of one kind or another. Who are they? Where do the strings of power ultimately lead?

These are not easy "homework assignments." They are not even "assignments" unless You assign them to Yourself; but if You do, they will lead You to further "assignments," and quite a different appraisal of the world in which You find Yourself than is customary. But I'll give You a hint: the point here is not to ferret out the "villains" of the world, but to demonstrate that the "venerable institutions" in which You have habitually and complacently placed Your trust in the past are in many instances not worthy of it; and that You will find Yourself lightyears ahead if You learn to place Your trust where it should have been all along: in Your Self. This too is an opinion. Is it valid?

Love & Light,

-- Harmon
J. Harmon Grahn